Mike Brown is ready for five championship rounds against Urijah Faber

Photo courtesy of AmericanTopTeam.com 

By Chris Cork

For WEC featherweight contender Mike Brown November 5th can’t come soon enough.

A professional for almost eight years, the American Top Team fighter has flown under the radar with many fight fans having competed on a variety of small shows, from his early beginnings in Massachusetts with the local Mass Destruction promotion to St. Petersburg, Russia with the ill-fated Bodog Fight experiment. That has not, however, precluded him from picking up quality wins over the likes of Mark Hominick, Taiyo Nakahara, and Yves Edwards.

It was arguably the victory over Edwards – now a team-mate of Brown’s at ATT – in 2006 that brought the native of Portland, Maine to the attention of the WEC who signed him earlier this year to compete in their burgeoning featherweight division. A decision win over the highly-regarded Jeff Curran soon followed and Brown had quickly but quietly earned himself a shot at the 145 pound title.

That shot comes on – you guessed it – November 5th at WEC 36 in Hollywood, Florida. It will be the day Brown hopes to realize his career-long dream of winning a world title and, in so doing, finally earn his long-overdue moment in the sun.

“It would be the biggest win of my career,” Brown says candidly. “I think it would put me in the number one spot. I would have the belt and I think I would be considered the number one guy, and that’s every fighter’s goal, every fighter’s dream.”

Standing in his way, however, will be the imposing figure of champion Uriah Faber. With an outstanding record of 21-1, the Californian is widely regarded as the world’s best fighter at 145 pounds.

But the 33-year-old Brown is unfazed by Faber’s credentials and believes he has the tools to overcome one of the sport’s most dominant fighters.

“I think that I’m the bigger and stronger fighter and I think that I don’t make as many mistakes as he does,” says Brown. “He gets put in a lot of bad positions and I tend not to. I’m pretty controlling in all my fights. I don’t get taken down very often and I don’t get put in these bad positions that he seems to. He does really well at getting out of them, but I would say his weakness is that he does get put in bad positions.”

Brown’s analysis of “The California Kid” certainly has some substance to it. Against both Jeff Curran and Bibiano Fernandes, Faber had his back taken and appeared in serious jeopardy. The 29-year-old displayed fantastic composure, however, and recovered in both bouts to record resounding victories. Brown is mindful therefore of Faber’s tenacity for the fight and admits the contest could go the distance.

“I think it has the potential to go all five rounds,” he acknowledges. He just went five in his last fight for the first time and he looked pretty good. I think it could go that way and I’m prepared. I’m doing a lot of cardio and I can go all day long.”

Brown’s preparation for the biggest fight of his career was blown off course when the event was postponed back in September due to Hurricane Ike. He readily admits his disappointment with the deferment of the card, but working out on a daily basis in Coconut Creek, Florida with a vast array of the best fighters in the world has given him a supreme confidence in his ability to get the job done no matter what the obstacle.

“I feel good and I know that I can compete with anybody in the world,” says Brown.

“I have many high-level training partners all the time. Even if you’ve got a couple of guys who are sick or injured or just fought, we have so much depth that there are so many good guys to train with even when you’ve got a few guys out.

“I train with a lot of the best guys at 155 pounds – (Gleison) Tibau, ‘JZ’ (Cavalcante), (Marcus) Aurelio. I spar with guys like Pitbull (Thiago Alves) and grapple with guys like (Marcelo) Garcia, so I know what’s out there and I know what I’m capable of. I know what people can do and there’s not a level that I haven’t seen.”

It’s the kind of self-belief one expects out of a successful and experienced pro, but such confidence is not shared by many fans of the sport who are unfamiliar with Brown’s talents. So not only is the UFC veteran aiming to walk away with a win and the title next Wednesday, he also hopes to earn the admiration of fans across the world thanks to the WEC’s expanding appeal.

“The casual fans don’t think I have a chance in hell to win this fight,” he concedes. “A lot of people think that. But I think the hardcore fans and a lot of fighters know what I can do and they know it’s going to be a really tough fight for both guys.

“It’s good to get the exposure finally, especially against Uriah because he’s their (the WEC’s) big star so they’ve pushed this fight a lot. It’s really good to finally get some notoriety after all the hard work I’ve put in.”

Hard work that Brown hopes will culminate in him capturing the most prestigious prize his weight class has to offer – the WEC featherweight title.

“It would be like completing the puzzle,” he concludes. “Putting that final piece of the puzzle in. To be the champ, to be the best; it would mean everything to me and it would be an honor to be champ.”